Faceplate arrangement



y B. E. JoN| -:s FACEPLATE ARRANGEMENT 'Filed .sept 4' 1942. --2-Shees-'Shee 1 i) @ya M l j ge/22%,@

Qy/ afzet? June 15, ,1943.I B. E'. JoNEs v FACEPLATE RRANGEMENT Filedsept. 4, v1942' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented .time 1s, 1943 Unirse STATEor-slcs FACEPLATE ARRANGEMENT of Illinois Application September ElClaims.

This invention relates to railway cars and more particularly to thefaceplate arrangement at the passageway between adjoining cars.

The invention has for its principal object the provision of means forexcluding weather from the joint between faceplates of adjoining carsformed by the contacting surfaces of the respective faceplates.

The invention contemplates the use of complemental gutters disposedimmediately beneath the contacting surfaces of adjoining faceplatesabove the passageway between cars, each secured at one end to therespective faceplates and varranged to abut one against the other in avertical plane at an angle to the line of Contact between the adjoiningfaceplates and intersecting such line of contact substantially at thecenter of the passageway with spring means maintaining contact betweenthe gutters. l

'I'he foregoing and other objects are attained by the mechanismillustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is an endelevational view of a railway car with the lower portion broken away andprovided with a passageway faceplate equipped with the weather excludingdevice of this invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan sectional View taken on the line 2-2 of Fig.1 illustrating the weather excluding members of adjoining cars disposedin abutting relation and showing the line of contact between the membersto be at an angle to the line of contact between adjoining faceplates;

Fig. 3 is a detail view of the spring device for maintaining contactbetween adjoining weather excluding members and showing the faceplate towhich it is attached in section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1through the weather excluding trough and showing the manner ofattachment for the spring engaging member; and

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view through the passageway ofadjoining cars taken as indicated on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1 and showingthe faceplates of the respective cars in contact and the engagementbetween the opposed weather excluding troughs.

In the drawings l represents a railway car having an end wall l lprovided with an end doorway l2. A passageway faceplate I3 is disposedin spaced relation to the end wall and is provided with hinged wingmembers I4 pivotally supported therefrom to provide means of attachingand supporting a streamlining diaphragm l about 4, 1942, Serial No.457,288

the perimeter of the car. The streamlining diaphragm is secured to thefaceplate and wing members and the car end by means of clamping devicesI6 leaving the diaphragm imperforate. 5 A bellows fold diaphragm Il' isalso disposed between the faceplate and car end to provide aweather-tight passageway and is secured by means of Z-shaped attachingframes I8 and IS respectively. The faceplate is maintained in 10 spacedrelation to the car end wall against the bung action of associated carsin a train through the medium of an upper buffer stem 29 pivotallysecured to the faceplate by means of bracket 2l and engaging against abufling spring 22 adapted to urge the upper portion of the faceplateoutwardly and by lower buffer stems 23 pivotally secured as at 24 toybuffer plate 25 and engaging a bufling device (notshown) to urge thefaceplate outwardly away from the car end wall. It will be seen thatcontact between faceplates of adjoining cars is assured by these upperand lower buing devices and bufng shocks between cars absorbed while therespective faceplates are at all times maintained inV proper spacedrelation to the end walls of the cars. Thus a completely enclosedpassageway is provided from one car to the other through the associateddiaphragms I1 with only the joint 2'l`between the adjoining faceplatesintervening. Footplates 2t 0 and 28 provide a'walkway through thepassageway.

It has been found-that the joint 2l, even though the contacting surfacesof the faceplates, might be covered with fibrous material to act as aseal, failed -fully to exclude the weather and permitted 'water and dirtto continue to leak through and drip from the lower portion of the jointinto the passageway onto passengers passing therethrough and caused awet and slippery" condition of the footplates so that it created ahazard to persons walking through from one car to the other. In order toeliminate this condition, trough shaped gutters are utilized beneath thejointto receive any water'or dirt dropit ofi' at either side. One gutteris usedon each faceplate at each V`end'of each car and therespective'gutters are pivotally connected to their f associated`faceplate at the opposite side ofthe passageway from the gutter at theother end of the car so that individual cars may be coupled togetherwith either end of one car associated with either end of another carwithout the necessity of maintaining any particular relation betweencars to be coupled.

ping therefrom and which are adapted to `pass.

Each gutter 35 comprises a channel member having one flange 3lrelatively higher than the other flange 32 and closed at one end as 33with the other end 34 remaining open. The gutter is pivotally supportedat its closed end from flange 29 on the faceplate by means of flangedbracket 35 attached to the flange of the faceplate by means of rivets35. The bracket 35 comprises a jaw into which the gutter is fltted and aheaded pin 3'.' is then passed through the assembly and secured by acotter 38. The jaws of the bracket 35 are spaced the depth of the gutteras best shown in Fig. and the gutter itself is provided with a sleeve 39which is welded into the corner of the closed end of the gutter andthrough which the pivot pin 31 passes. The sleeve 39 provides a fulllength bearing for the pivot pin and serves as a spacer from the bottomof the gutter to the top jaw of the supporting bracket. The flange 3| isof greater height to afford increased contacting area between theopposed faces of gutters on associated cars and provide for relativemovement between the faceplates as the cars negotiate curves and variouselevations and depressions in the track. The end wall 33 forming acontinuation of the flange 3| at the closed end of the gutter extendsaround the sleeve 39 as best shown in Figs. 2 and 5 before sloping downto the level of rear flange 32. The flange 3| as best illustrated inFig. 2 is disposed at an angle to the rear flange 32 so that the jointformed by the contacting flanges 3| of gutters on associated cars isalways at an angle to the joint formed by the adjoining bufllng surfacesof the faceplates above the gutters regardless of whether the faceplatesmay be centered with respect to each other as when the cars are on astraight track or when they are displaced laterally on curved sectionsof track or when they may be disposed at an angle.

It will be seen that the opposed gutters of associated cars providetroughs extending substantially the full width of the passageway andthat their line of contact 4D being at an angle to the line of contact4l between the faceplates as best seen in Fig. 2, the only water whichmight drip directly onto the joint formed by the contacting flanges 3lfrom the joint between the faceplates above the gutters can only occurat that point where the line of contact between the gutters and that ofthe faceplates intersects, thus minimizing the possibility of water anddirt getting through to the passageway. All of the water dripping intothe gutters from between the faceplates will be guided by the flanges 3land 32 of the respective gutters to run to the open end of each gutterat opposite sides of the passageway where it is drained closely adjacentthe passageway diaphragm I7. vThe contacting flanges 3| of gutters onadjoining cars are at all times maintained in engagement by means ofsprings engaging the free end of each gutter to urge them outwardly in adirection whereby opposed gutters of associated cars exert pressure oneagainst the other at all times. The free end of each gutter whichcomprises the open end 34 is supported in a bracket 45. This bracketcomprises a U-shaped bent plate having depending flanges 41 and 48 forattachment to flange 49 of the face plate to provide a closed slot 42 inwhich the movement of the supported end of the gutter due to relativemovement between the associated cars is adapted to be accommodated. Theattachment of bracket 46 to flange 49 is had by means of rivets 5| and52 with the bracket disposed on the opposite side of the flange from thepassageway. A channel shaped member turned on its side with the openface turned to the rear or toward the car body, is secured to eachgutter to provide an extension for supporting the free end of the gutterin the slot 42. An angle member 53 is secured to the web of the guttermember adjacent the open end thereof by means of rivets 54 and bywelding and the channel shaped extension member 5! is secured with itsweb disposed in abutting relation to the depending flange of the angleby means of rivets 55 and by welding. All of the welds between thevarious members are indicated by the numeral 55. The member 5U extendsinto the slot 42 to support the free end of the gutter in the bracket 46and is provided with an inwardly projecting stud 51 disposed in opposedrelation to a similar stud 5B secured in the rear wall of the slot.Spring 45 is supported on these two studs in a manner to exert pressurebetween the bracket 45 and the extension member 55 to force the gutteroutwardly with the flange 49 of the faceplate acting as an outer limitof movement when the web of member 50 comes in contact with the edge ofthe flange. When the cars are uncoupled the web of member 55 will be incontact with the edge of flange 49 with the spring 45 expanded but whenthe cars are coupled the spring will be compressed and the extensionmember spaced from the flange, an amount depending upon the relativemovement between the associated cars but the spring 45 will insurecontact at all times between adjoining gutters so that a trough beneaththe top of the faceplates to catch any water or dirt dropping therefromis always insured.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that a faceplace has been providedwhich is equipped with a trough for catching water and dirt droppingfrom the joint between adjoining faceplates before it can fall onpassengers going through the passageway between cars and which isautomatically operable to engage a similar trough on an adjoining car soequipped without the-necessity for any adjustment whatever and whichdoes not cause any interference when a car equipped with such a troughis coupled to a car not so equipped.

'What is claimed is:

1. A railway car passageway including a foceplate having an uppersurface adapted to be disposed in engagement with a similar surface ofan adjoining faceplate thereby to form a joint, a trough memberpivotally secured at one side of the passageway to said ilrst faceplateand extending beneath said joint part way of the width of the passagewayand supported from said faceplate at the other side of the passageway,spring means engaging the trough at said last named side, and a similartrough on said adjoining faceplate adapted to extend beneath said jointthe remaining width of the passageway, said troughs being maintained inengagement by said spring means.

2. A railway car passageway including a faceplate having an uppersurface adapted to be disposed in engagement with a similar surface oian adjoining faceplate thereby to form a joint, a trough memberpivotally secured at one side of the passageway to said ilrst faceplateand supported at the other side of the passageway from said faceplatefor relative movement thereto, spring means engaging the trough at saidlast named support, and a similar trough and spring means on saidadjoining faceplate pivotally secured to and supported therefrom atrespectively opposite sides from the first faceplate and adapted to bedisposed in opposed relation to the rst trough, said spring meanscooperatively maintaining the troughs in operative engagement beneathsaid `ioint with the engaging surfaces of the troughs at an angle to theengaging surfaces of said faceplates.

3. A faceplate having a bufling surface, a trough adapted to be disposedbeneath said surface, a bracket secured to the faceplate at one side forpivotally supporting one end of said trough, a bracket secured to thefaceplate at the other side for supporting the other end of the trough,spring means associated with the last named bracket adapted to urge thetrough outwardly of said bufng surface, and an extension member securedto the trough adapted to engage said last named bracket and be engagedby said spring means, said trough comprising an inverted channel shapedmember having a closed end and an open end and an upstanding flange oneach side, one of said iianges being relatively higher than the other.

4. A faceplate having a buiing surface, a trough adapted to be disposedbeneath said surface, a bracket secured to the faceplate at one side forpivotally supporting one end of said trough, a bracket secured to thefaceplate at the other side for supporting the other end of the troughand spring means associated with the last named bracket adapted to urgethe trough outwardly of said buflmg surface, said trough comprising aninverted channel shaped member having a closed end and an open end andan upstanding ange on each side, one of said flanges being relativelyhigher than the other.

5. A faceplate having a bufng surface, a trough adapted to be disposedbeneath said surface, a bracket secured to the faceplate at one side forpivotally supporting one end of said trough, a bracket secured to thefaceplate at the other side for supporting the other end of the troughand spring means associated with said last named bracket adapted to urgethe trough outwardly of said bufiing surface.

6. A drip trough for railway car passageway faceplates comprising aninverted channel having a closed end and an open end, upstanding sideiianges on the trough, one of said flanges being relatively higher thanthe other to provide an extended contacting area between adjoiningtroughs, said higher flange being disposed at an angle to the otherflange to provide a trough substantially wider at one end than at theother, a bracket at one end of the trough for pivotally connecting thetrough to a faceplate, an eXtension member at the other end of thetrough and engaging a bracket slidably to support the trough forhorizontal swinging movement with respect to a faceplate, and springmeans in said last named bracket for urging the trough in one direction7. A drip trough for railway car passageway faceplates comprising aninverted channel having a closed end and an open end, upstanding sideflanges on the trough, one of said flanges being disposed at an angle tothe other flange to provide a trough substantially wider at one end thanat the other, a bracket at one end of the trough for pivotallyconnecting the trough to a face plate, an extension member at the otherend of the trough and engaging a bracket slidably to support the troughfor horizontal swinging movement with respect to a face plate, andspring means in said last named bracket for urging the trough in onedirection.

8. A drip trough for railway car passageway faceplates comprising aninverted channel having a closed end and an open end, upstanding sideanges on the trough, one of said flanges being disposed at an angle tothe other flange to provide a trough substantially wider at one end thanat the other, a bracket at one end of the trough for pivotallyconnecting the trough to a faceplate, a bracket slidably to support theother end of the trough for horizontal swinging movement with respect toa face plate, and spring means in said last named bracket for urging thetrough in one direction.

9. A drip trough for railway car passageway faceplates comprising aninverted channel having an open end, upstanding side flanges on thetrough, a bracket at one end of the trough for pivotally connecting thetrough to a faceplate, a bracket slidably to support the other end ofthe trough for horizontal swinging movement with respect to a faceplate, and spring means in one of said brackets for urging the trough inone direction.

BASIL E. JONES.

